NEARFest, the festival that brought progressive rock to South Bethlehem for 11 years but was canceled for this year because of poor ticket sales, will be revived for a final run in June, organizers say.

Keith Emerson at NEARFest in 2006

“After the unfortunate events leading to the cancellation of NEARfest 2011, we could not allow the legacy of NEARfest to end with a dark and empty stage,” organizers say in a statement on the festival’s website, www.nearfest.com.

“The festival has meant too much to too many, including us, to just disappear without at least making an attempt at a joyous swansong.” So, organizers say, since spring they’ve been putting together a final NEARfest that is “true to its roots and special to its faithful.”

The three-day, 10-band NEARfest Apocalypse will be June 22-24 at Lehigh University’s Zoellner Arts Center as “a true celebration of progressive rock music as well as a ‘raising of the glass’ to everyone who has made NEARfest so special to so many of us over the last 13 years,” the statement says.

The festival’s headliner will be Renaissance, a United Kingdom classical, folk and rock band that had a U.K. Top 10 hit in 1978 with "Northern Lights" and other prog rock hits such as "Carpet of the Sun," "Mother Russia" and "Ashes Are Burning."

Renaissance will play June 23.

The opening night, June 22, will be headlined by Aranis, an acoustic chamber rock ensemble from Belgium that features violin, flute, accordion and piano. Also playing will be Van der Graaf Generator, a 40-year veteran band that played its first U.S. appearance in 33 years at NEARfest in 2009.

Others June 23 will be Helmet of Gnats, a U.S. progressive fusion group; the United Kingdom’s Twelfth Night, which mixes rock, classical and punk vibes with dramatic vocals and lyrics and a multi-media stage show; and Sweden’s Änglagård, which arose from the progressive rock revival in the 1990s and combines romantic and modern classical with 1970s symphonic rock and Scandinavian folk.

For the closing night, June 24 will be headlined by Mike Keneally Band, an American guitarist, singer, multi-instrumentalist and composer who started his career with the Frank Zappa band in the late 1980s and recently has played keyboards for Joe Satriani; and Eloy, Germany’s most famous progressive rock band, having sold 2 million copies of its 17 studio albums since the 1970s, also making its American debut.

Also playing that night will be Gösta Berlings Saga of Sweden, a post-rock, avant-rock band; Il Tempio delle Clessidre of Italy, making its American debut;

Organizers say there are plans for activities “beyond the norm” for the weekend that will be detailed as the festival gets closer.

NEARFest, which is short for North East Art Rock Festival, started in 1999 at Moravian College’s Foy Hall but by its second year outgrew the venue and moved to Lehigh, then to Patriot's Theatre in Trenton, N.J., in 2002 and 2003 before returning to Lehigh.

It sold out its first eight years, with tickets going in just a half hour in 2005, and headliners have included Keith Emerson Band in 2006.

The 2011 festival was scheduled to be headlined by jam band Umphree’s McGee, which covers prog rock songs in its sets, with 10 other bands, from Finland, Canada, Italy, Sweden, England, Chile and even Indonesia scheduled to play.

Organizers said NEARfest had always had a lineup anchored “by legends of the greater genre and featured a plethora of world-class bands spanning the broad range of subgenres.” But while that led to sellouts, “it started to become clear that this headliner-centric model would not be sustainable indefinitely.”

But the 2011 lineup apparently was “too much of a change in the model, and those dedicated to attending and supporting the festival may feel that it is no longer in the spirit of NEARfest itself,” organizers said in the statement.

“Therefore, we have decided to retain the marriage of our successful model to our NEARfest brand name.”

Tickets sales will begin with the NEARfest Patron Program will begin on at 6 p.m. Nov. 12 and run through Nov. 16 at www.nearfest.com . Tickets for two days (Saturday and Sunday only) will be $300 and three days for $350.

Remaining tickets at $135 to $180 and three days $180 to $240 will go on sale at 10 a.m. March 3. Remaining tickets for Friday only at 10 a.m. March 10 at $45 to $60.

There will be a four-ticket-per-person limit.

Information on tickets, advertising and vending are available at www.nearfest.com.

Thanks for the great write-up! A few corrections for your readers... Van der Graaf Generator is the headliner for Friday night; Aranis is the opener. Eloy is the headliner for Sunday night; the Mike Keneally Band is in the slot just prior to Eloy.

Listen for us on a guest spot with the Bearman and Keith on WZZO in late Feb/early March!

JOHN J. MOSER has been around long enough to have seen the original Ramones in a small club in New Jersey, U2 from the fourth row of a theater and Bob Dylan's born-again tours. But he also has the number for All-American Rejects' Nick Wheeler on his cell phone, wrote the first story ever done on Jack's Mannequin and hung out in Wiz Khalifa's hotel room.

OTHER CONTRIBUTORS

JODI DUCKETT: As The Morning Call's assistant features editor responsible for entertainment, she spends a lot of time surveying the music landscape and sizing up the Valley's festivals and club scene. She's no expert, but enjoys it all — especially artists who resonated in her younger years, such as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Tracy Chapman, Santana and Joni Mitchell.

KATHY LAUER-WILLIAMS enjoys all types of music, from roots rock and folk to classical and opera. Music has been a constant backdrop to her life since she first sat on the steps listening to her mother’s Broadway LPs when she was 2. Since becoming a mother herself, she has become well-versed on the growing genre of kindie rock and, with her son in tow, can boast she has seen a majority of the current kid’s performers from Dan Zanes to They Might Be Giants.

STEPHANIE SIGAFOOS: A Jersey native raised in Northeast PA, she was reared in a house littered with 8-tracks, 45s and cassette tapes of The Beatles, Elvis, Meatloaf and Billy Joel. She also grew up on the sounds of Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw and can be found traversing the countryside in search of the sounds of a steel guitar. A fan of today's 'new country,' she digs mainstream/country-pop crossovers like Lady Antebellum and Sugarland and other artists that illustrate the genre's diversity.